The Favor
by Flynne
Summary: When Casey's in a bind, Leo's the one he turns to for help...much to Leo's dismay. "So whaddaya say, Leo? Can you help me?" "Uh...Casey, I really don't think I'm the right person to ask. Why don't you ask Raph?" "Come on, you know I can't ask HIM. I'd never hear the end of it."


This idea bit me several months ago and wouldn't let go. Just something fun and a little silly. Set in the 2k3 universe.

The Favor

"So whaddaya say, Leo? Can you help me?"

Leo stared at Casey, trying to figure out if there was a tactful way to decline. "Uh...Casey, I really don't think I'm the right person to ask. Why don't you ask Raph?"

"Come on, you know I can't ask _him_. I'd never hear the end of it. And no way can I ask Mikey."

Leo grimaced. Casey was right. Raph and Mikey would be utterly merciless in their teasing. "What about Don?" he suggested, feeling faintly desperate.

Casey stuffed his hands into his pockets and shifted his feet awkwardly. "I, uh...I already did," he confessed. "Don told me I should ask you. Said you'd probably catch on faster and would be a better teacher."

Leo closed his eyes briefly. He could just picture his brother's stunned expression after hearing Casey's request and knew exactly what Don's flat refusal (and deflection towards himself) would sound like. "I don't know, Casey…"

"Aw, c'mon, please? I really wanna surprise April but I can't afford to take lessons. And there's no way I can figure it out on my own. Be a pal, huh? It's for April," Casey wheedled.

"...Okay, fine," Leo gave in with a sigh, making a mental note to make Donatello suffer for this later.

"Really? Aw, thanks, Leo! I owe ya, buddy," Casey grinned, pounding his carapace with enough enthusiasm that Leo felt the impact all the way through to his plastron. "How do you wanna start?"

"You said there are tutorials online, right?" Leo asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll watch them and see what I can pick up. You watch too, and then I'll come by your place at the end of the week. Okay?"

"Great!" Casey thumped him on the back again, then headed for the door. "Thanks a lot, Leo. I appreciate it."

Leo gave a reluctant wave as Casey left, but when he was gone, his shoulders slumped and he rubbed the bridge of his nose with his finger and thumb. "I can't believe I let him talk me into this," he muttered under his breath. He heaved a sigh, then turned and wandered off in search of Donatello.

He found his brother right where he knew he'd be: in the garage, buried elbow-deep in the engine of the Battle Shell. Don's mask hung loose around his neck, and his forehead was darkened by a broad stripe of grease where he'd swiped the back of his hand across his face. He didn't stop working, but he lifted his head when Leo came in. "Hey," he said, giving Leo a smile.

"Hi, Don." Leo looked at him carefully for any trace of deviousness, but Don's face was completely innocent. Leo's suspicion deepened.

Don turned his attention back to the engine. "You need something?"

Leo's eyes narrowed. Don _knew_. But if _he_ wasn't going to say anything, neither was Leo. "I was wondering if I could borrow your laptop," he answered.

"Yeah, sure," Don agreed without looking up. "It's on my desk."

"Thanks." Leo turned and headed back to the lair.

"You can keep it as long as you need," Don called after him. "And let me know how it goes." Leo turned sharply and pinned his brother with a dark glare. Don smiled cheerfully back at him, but there was a smug twist to his mouth.

"Did you really need to tell him to ask me?" Leo asked, exasperated.

"You _are_ the better teacher," came the matter-of-fact reply.

"Not for _this!"_

"I am...ninety-three percent sure this won't end in disaster," Don said, after pausing to mentally calculate.

"Ninety-three percent," Leo repeated flatly.

Don smirked. "Give or take."

Leo lifted a warning finger. "If Raph and Mikey find out…"

Don mimed locking his mouth and tossing away the key. "Not a word."

Leo gave his head another exasperated little shake and turned away, retrieving the laptop from Don's desk and carrying it to his room. With the grim determination of a condemned man on his way to the gallows, Leo opened the browser and typed "Lindy Hop" into the search box.

**xxxxx**

Leo watched videos of people dancing whenever he had free time, but after two days he was still baffled as to how he was going to teach Casey. But then after watching the same video four times in a row, it clicked. Instead of watching the movements of the dancers' entire bodies, he focused on their feet. "...Like a kata…" he murmured under his breath. He started the video again, but this time, he got to his feet and carefully mimicked the movements of the dancers.

**xxxxx**

After sunset that Friday, Leo slipped out of the lair and headed to Casey's apartment. Casey had left the window open for him, but he was nowhere in sight. Leo glanced around briefly before calling quietly, "Casey?" He tensed as the doorknob rattled and ducked behind the couch, but relaxed when he saw Casey enter with an armload of laundry. He sighed a little and rose to his feet. "There you are."

"Geez!" Shirts and shorts went flying as Casey jumped in surprise. "Dude, you can't sneak up on people like that!" he complained, scrambling to gather his clothing from the floor.

"I wasn't sneaking," Leo protested, moving to help.

"You're a ninja. All you _do _is sneak," Casey said in exasperation, snatching a pair of his boxers before Leo could pick them up. He scooped his clothes back into his arms and took them to his room to dump them on the bed. "Okay," he said, coming back to the living room, rubbing his hands together, "what's the plan?"

"I think we should start with the basic footwork," Leo said. "Stand next to me and watch." He waited until Casey was ready, then went on. "It's a series of eight counts. So when you're dancing, you'll be counting in your head: one, two, three-and-four, five, six, seven-and-eight." He moved slowly in a circle, counting off each time his foot hit the floor. He heard a faint snort and looked up when he was done to see Casey fighting back a smirk.

"Sorry, Leo," Casey snickered. "You just look funny doin' that by yourself."

Leo's mouth thinned. "Do you want to do this or not?"

"I do, I do! Geez, I _said_ I was sorry." Casey took his place awkwardly next to Leo and imitated his movements as best as he could. His best wasn't very good, though, and after half an hour he hadn't made a lot of progress. "This feels weird," he said, trying to rein in his frustration. "How am I supposed to dance with April when I can't even get my feet to work right?"

"Think of it like learning a kata, or a series of movements," Leo answered patiently. "Don't think of it as dancing yet. Just concentrate on counting and on where you want your feet to go."

"This is _dancing_, not your ninja stuff. Do I _look _like Raph to you?" Casey asked grouchily.

Leo raised an eye ridge. At the moment, with a scowl on his face and annoyance rolling off him in waves, Casey _did_, in fact, remind him of his brother. Leo decided it would probably be best if he refrained from mentioning this, though, so he remained silent and decided to change tactics. Raph learned best by doing, not watching...so maybe Casey worked the same way.

"Let's try something different," Leo said. "Instead of you trying to copy what I'm doing, we'll see if you can just follow along with me instead. Give me your hand."

"What for?" Casey asked, eyeing his outstretched hand dubiously.

Leo rolled his eyes. "So I can teach you to dance. Come _on_." Casey hesitated for just a moment before reaching out to put his right hand in Leo's left. "I'm going to count out loud," Leo told him. "Just move your feet when I say each number and don't fight me when I pull on your arm. Ready?" Without waiting for an answer, he gave Casey's hand a little tug and started steering him around the floor. "One, two, three-and-four, five, six, seven-and-eight." Maneuvering the considerably taller Casey in an oval orbit around himself was awkward and slow, but he managed to steer his friend somewhat successfully through the basic steps. "Does it make sense now?" he asked.

Casey shrugged uncomfortably. "I dunno, kind of."

"Okay, then we'll do it again. One, two, three-and-OW!" Leo yelped, letting go of Casey. He shook out his sore foot and fought to keep the annoyance off his face. "Why don't you take off your shoes?" he suggested with exaggerated calm.

"Sorry." Casey toed off his sneakers and kicked them to the side.

Leo held out his hand again - making a mental note to watch where Casey was stepping, because even _without_ his shoes, Jones was no lightweight - and started leading him around again.

**xxxxx**

After almost a week, Casey had started getting a hang of the basic step. Leo decided it was time to add a few spin moves, which was a relief to both of them because hours of practicing just the basic step was a quick way to get dizzy if they kept at it for too long.

"I'm not sayin' this hasn't been fun, Leo," Casey said, ducking awkwardly under Leo's arm as he turned in a circle, "...but I've been watchin' the instruction video thingys and I think you're makin' me dance the girl's part."

"Uh…" Leo stopped abruptly halfway through the spin, causing Casey to stumble and swear under his breath.

"You _are_, aren't you?"

Leo buried his face in his palm, feeling unbelievably stupid. "I am." He hadn't _intended_ to teach Casey to follow instead of lead, but somehow it had happened, and he couldn't believe he hadn't realized his mistake.

"This ain't exactly gonna help me if I'm gonna be dancing with April."

"I am aware of that." Leo answered, shaking his head. "Well, at least you've got the hang of counting along to the beat of the music. That's half the battle. I'll go home and watch the instructions again so I can learn the follow's part, then come back tomorrow and teach you to lead."

Fortunately, Casey was amused rather than frustrated. "Sounds good. You don't gotta dress up or nothin', but if you want to, I bet Mikey can find something pretty for you to wear."

Leo gave Casey a long-suffering look, but just sighed. "I suppose I deserved that."

**xxxxx**

Surprisingly, Casey made the transition from follow to lead with relative ease. Aside from one or two minor mishaps _("For the fourth time, __**I'm**_ _**sorry!**_ _I wasn't tryin' to drop you but you're awfully heavy for such a short dude. It ain't easy to dip a turtle.")_, the rest of the dance lessons went fairly smoothly.

Leo stopped by Casey's apartment one last time for a quick run-through of everything they'd learned a few hours before Casey was due to pick up April, then headed back to the lair feeling immensely relieved that the whole ordeal was over, and rather proud of Casey for learning as much as he had.

His brothers had headed out for the night by the time he made it back home. Mikey had scrawled a barely-legible note telling him that they'd gone out on a training run, but he couldn't quite make out the name of the neighborhood they'd headed for. He was satisfied to stay home, though - he'd sacrificed quite a bit of his solo practice teaching Casey, and although he hadn't minded helping, he was glad to have some extra time to himself.

The hours slipped past unnoticed as he worked his way through a series of drills with and without his katana. He was flowing through a complex series of spins when he felt someone watching him, and he skidded to a stop to see April standing a safe distance away, patiently waiting to be noticed.

"Hey, April. It's kind of late for you, isn't it?" he asked, tilting a glance at the clock. The hands were inching towards 2 AM.

"Nice to see you, too," she said dryly.

"Weren't you going out with Casey?"

"I did! He dropped me off a little while ago, but I wasn't tired so I thought I'd see if I could find you before I turned in," she answered, smoothing her dress. The black and white polka-dot material looked out of place with the waterproof rubber boots she'd donned to slosh through the sewers.

"Oh," he answered, vaguely puzzled but pleased to see her nonetheless. "Did you have a good time?"

"Yes! Although I'm told I have you to thank for that. Casey told me you taught him how to dance."

"He did?"

"Of course he did! It was the best surprise I've had in a long time. He'd told me we were going to a big band concert, but you have no idea how shocked I was when he stood up and asked me to dance." She smiled at him. "That was incredibly sweet of you."

"Well, he told me it was to surprise you," Leo said, feeling a bit self-conscious. "I had to help him out."

"Like I said, it was sweet of you. I had to say thank you and I couldn't wait until tomorrow." Leo blinked in surprise, then, as she tugged off her boots and walked over to him in her socks. "Come on," she said, holding out her hand. "It's my turn."

"Your turn for what?"

She rolled her eyes. "You'll dance with _Casey_ but you won't dance with _me?_"

"You want to dance?" he repeated.

"Yes," she said, laughing at him. "I promise I won't step on your feet." She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her list of songs, then selected one and balanced the phone on the edge of the couch. "I thought the title of this one was fitting, considering you're a ninja."

Leo was still staring at her in disbelief, but when he heard Dean Martin's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" begin playing, he started to laugh. "Okay," he relented, "one song." He took her by the hand and twirled her around.

When the last note of the song played, April gave him a playful little curtsy as she let go of his hand. "You're a good lead, Leo!" she said. She then straightened her shoulders and said exaggerated formality, "Thank you, good sir turtle."

Leo chuckled a little in mild embarrassment, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, as...uh, _fun_...as Casey's lessons were, I'd pick you over him as a dance partner any day."

April laughed, then leaned forward to give him a sisterly kiss on the forehead.


End file.
